Between Bruises & Blooms

Some days
my body forgets
it needs anything.

Morning becomes afternoon.

Afternoon becomes dark.

Coffee sits
where breakfast
should have been.

My stomach stays quiet,
like it has learned
not to ask.

Then finally
I put something
between my teeth—

three bites,

four—

and suddenly
I am full.

As if my body
has boarded up
the windows
and written

NO VACANCY

across the door.

Other nights
something breaks open.

I eat
like I am trying
to fill every empty hour
at once.

Like hunger
has been keeping receipts.

Like my body
is collecting
everything
I denied it.

There is shame
in both directions.

Shame
when I cannot eat.

Shame
when I cannot stop.

And I wish
food could simply be food—

not another place
where my mind
and my body

forget
how to speak
to each other.